Monday, January 28, 2008

Healthy, wealthy enough and working on the wisdom, thanks.

This morning when I woke up, someone was mowing nearby. This is supposed to be a classic Australian summer sound... ahh, perfect for the Australia Day long weekend. But, would you start up a very noisy mower at 9:30am on a public holiday?

I had an idea that 10am was an acceptable time on a Sunday or public holiday. Turns out that the ACT Government permits use of lawnmowers and other garden equipment from 7am Monday to Saturday, and 8am on Sundays and public holidays. That's not really much of a sleep-in.

I guess there are plenty of people who would never imagine getting up later than, say, 7am. And maybe for some of those people, it really is unthinkable that anyone would still be asleep - or, perhaps more to the point, deserves to be asleep -at 9:30am on a beautiful summer day.

Well, it was about time for me to get up, anyway.

But I refuse to be ashamed about sleeping in. My ideal routine would be to go to bed between midnight and 1am, maybe 2 if I'm really engrossed in something, and get up about 8am. Instead, I often get a bit behind on sleep through the week, or I'll have one really late night, and then try to have a catch-up sleep-in on the weekend.

I've known a few early-bird-gets-the-worm types who clearly assume that they are morally superior. (No, before you race to hit 'comment', I'm not talking about everyone who likes to get up early.) They love to to tell you how productive they are in the mornings, how the world is quieter and you can get more done. For all I know, breakfast foods tastes sweeter and coffee is unnecessary for these people. Whereas someone like me who gets to work 9:30am on an average morning is clearly a lazy slob. My job involves flexible hours, and I'm just not a morning person, is this a crime? I tend to be more productive in the afternoon, and I'm willing to stay late. And even after work, I am still quite functional at 10pm when the early birds have long since collapsed into bed.

I probably can't complain too much. I just went out and put the car away late again, and each time I do this I wonder if the neighbours are bothered by the squeaking garage door when they are trying to sleep. And given the state of our 'weedyard' (it's definitely not any kind of 'lawn') I reckon they would all be thrilled if we would just get around to mowing it, whatever time of day.

10 comments:

As you know, I'm an early riser (though - I too don't get into work until about 9.30am!!!!), and I reckon 9.30am is a bit early. Perhaps they were trying to beat the heat.

Either way, I have come to believe that people generally are 'morning' or 'night' people, and that it's very very hard to change your type. My brother used to stay up really late to study and then sleep in to midday, but when I was at uni I could never do that, but would much, MUCH prefer to get up super early (say 5am - even 4am during exams) to study - I felt much more refreshed and more productive. I have tried to train myself to stay up late (I can succeed to some extent during holidays), but I always feel a bit sluggish the next. Enjoy being a night owl I say!

I am NOT a morning person, even if I go to bed at 9 pm. However on a hot day I will think nothing of mowing at 9.30 am to beat the heat. Stresses the other half out though - he is a total morning person and thinks 11 am is too early to mow.

Funny, huh?

I force myself out of bed and to work every morning - it feels very unnatural still, even after 17 years of doing it.

After reading this, I asked Sean if he knew what the laws were and he said he would have thought 8am on a weekday and 10am on a Sunday. But we always wait til the end of the day because by 9-10 on a Sunday it's too hot to be out there.

And I've wondered that about the squeaky garage door late at night, too. Our neighbours have little kids and me slamming a heavy door at 11pm is probably not popular.

But then their kids scream blue murder any time of the day or night and it drives me insane so I think all's fair in neighbour wars!

Oh and I'm a morning person and don't claim any moral superiority. I WISH I could sleep late once in a while. I just can't.

I am a night person although lately I've found myself getting up at 6.30am or so during the week, even though I'm on holidays. Kinda weird actually. Although all I do once I get up is get coffee into me and read blogs...

Thank goodness for different biorhythms! I'm definitely recruiting my next assistant based on them being a late person. I'm an early and love that hour or so in the morning at work with no interruptions.

We have neighbors who wordship their lawns and mow early Sat and Sun. I am up by 6 all week and love to sleep in on the weekends. In the winter it's not too bad but in the summer, forget it. I figure I deserve to sleep in now that I don't have children to get up and feed. By the way, our local laws say 7 am on weedays and 8 am weekends. Ewwwww.

I'm a morning person. I've been staying up late at night and not coping with it. Night is for crashing on the couch! And if you wake up early enough, there are kooky old movies on the ABC (okay, that was when I was in insomnia-land).

I think that the people who mow at the earliest possible hour are the same ones who think it's a good idea to hose the concrete just before company comes over, creating a dangerously slippery and environmentally unfriendly surface...

I wish people round here would mow at 9.30am. (Around here 7am is late during the week with everyone leaving for work at that time, and at the weekend 7am is definitely a sleep-in.) All our neighbours do their noisy gardening chores - mowing, leaf-blowing, mulching, vacuuming cars, cleaning boats with high-powered water hoses, revving boat engines in preparation for the evenings fishing - in the middle of the day just as we're trying to get Davey to sleep. Amazed none of them has dropped dead from heat stroke yet.